Organised Crime and the State in Spain
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Organised Crime and the State in Spain Jennifer Margaret Sands Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Politics and International Studies June 2011 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Jennifer Margaret Sands to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2011 The University of Leeds Jennifer Margaret Sands -1 - Acknowledgements In undertaking the research for this thesis, countless individuals have helped me in so many ways that I could not possibly name everyone to whom I owe so much gratitude. There are, however, some people who deserve special mention. Predominantly, I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Alice Hills and Dr Hugh Dyer, for the support and guidance that they have given me, and also all the staff and researchers at the Instituto Andaluz Interuniversitario de Criminología at the University of Málaga, which kindly hosted me as a visiting research student at the end of 2005. Particularly, a large share of my gratitude goes Dr Alejandra Gómez-Céspedes, who not only provided some significant intellectual input and support during the course of this research but also, along with her husband Yiyo, entertained me and gave me a place to stay during my first week in Málaga. I also need to thank my interviewees and the respondents of my questionnaires. As the vast majority of them wished to remain anonymous, unfortunately I cannot name them, but their contribution to this thesis has been vast. My thanks also go to everyone else in Spain who has shown me hospitality; bought me coffees, drinks or lunches; and invited me into their homes and lives and professional settings. Furthermore, I would also like to thank everyone who has answered my emails and letters, given me advice at conferences, sent me bits and pieces of information relating to ‘organised crime’ in Spain, taught me Spanish, or helped me out in some other way. These include (but are by no means limited to): José Yoldi; José Magone; Mauricio Rubio; Rosemary Barberet; Javier García; Andrea Gimenez-Salinas; Julio Bordas; Eduardo Talavera; Rafael Vázquez; Irene Delgado; Fernando Jesús Pérez Gutiérrez; William Chislett; Christine Avion; Joe Serio; Marisa Cutler; Brad Dillman; Miguel Angel Pérez Sánchez; Nigel Street; and David Appleyard of the Graphics Unit at the University of Leeds (who helped with the production of the maps). I would also like to especially thank my partner, John, who has helped me so much and in so many ways that I could not possibly even begin to mention them all here, and so I will just say this: thank you, truly and sincerely, for the emotional and practical support, love and encouragement that you have given me; for your patience, good humour and optimism; and above all else, for ensuring that Madrid will always be a very special place! Finally, my biggest debt of gratitude goes to my parents, to whom I owe everything. Without them, I really could not have done this research or, indeed, many other things in my life. Put simply, they have always given me so much and yet received, what seems like, relatively little in return. Ultimately, therefore, this thesis is for them. -11 - Organised Crime and the State in Spain Abstract This thesis seeks to explore the reasons why a particular form of ‘organised crime’, namely illicit enterprise, exists and flourishes in Spain. In explaining this phenomenon thus far, journalists, academics and police (and other) officials tend to point to the fact that the country possesses a number of characteristics, or a set of competitive advantages, that make Spain simply ideal for this kind of criminal activity. Predominantly, these include factors such as the location and geography of Spain, the nature of Spain’s industry and economy and the presence of immigrant communities. These factors will be explored in the thesis and their usefulness as explanatory factors of illicit enterprise will be assessed. The thesis will argue that, although the conventional explanations often used to account for this phenomenon have some validity, they are essentially too superficial, and thus insufficient, to provide a comprehensive understanding. Stimulated by the wider literature on organised crime, the thesis therefore hypothesises that other key explanations relating to certain weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the political, judicial, legal, and law enforcement spheres, which are open to exploitation by criminal groups, are essential in understanding Spain’s particular susceptibility to illicit enterprise. The hypothesis will be tested by exploring and analysing factors such as corruption and a lack of transparency and accountability in the political, and other, realms; a lack of political and public attention given to the problem of illicit enterprise; some legal and judicial deficiencies; and some apparent complexities surrounding law enforcement and policing structures. The thesis contends that the essential explanation for Spain’s particular susceptibility to illicit enterprise lies in these vulnerabilities. - Ill - Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Figures vi Abbreviations vii Chapter 1 — Organised Crime and the State in Spain: An Introduction 1 Background and justification for the thesis 1 Why organised crime? 1 Why Spain? 2 The objectives of the research, the research question and the hypothesis 5 Methodology, research design and data collection 6 A case study approach 6 The case study regions 8 M adrid 8 The Costa del Sol 10 Galicia 14 Methodology and data collection 15 Written sources 17 The interviews and questionnaires 20 Being a foreigner 23 Gender issues 25 Thefieldwork 26 Structure of the thesis 29 - iv - Chapter 2 - What is ‘Organised Crime’? 31 Defining ‘organised crime’ in Spain - from ‘organised crime’ to ‘illicit enterprise’ 34 Legal and law enforcement definitions 34 Academic definitions 41 The ‘who ’ question - who is involved in ‘organised crime ? 41 The ‘what’ question — what does 'organised crime ’ do? 46 The forms of criminal activity in Spain 49 Drug trafficking 49 Other criminal activities and enterprises 60 Chapter 3 — Explaining Illicit Enterprise in Spain: Standard Explanations and the Development of the Hypothesis 81 Standard explanations for illicit enterprise in Spain 81 The location and geographical characteristics of Spain 83 The presence of immigrant communities in Spain 90 Spain’s economy and the nature of its industry 97 Do these factors fully explain illicit enterprise in Spain? 110 The development of the hypothesis 113 Chapter 4 - Corruption in Spain 128 The extent of corruption in Spain 128 The forms of corruption in Spain 132 Chapter 5 - The Response to Illicit Enterprise in Spain 158 Lack of political attention / political will 1 58 Inefficiencies surrounding law enforcement and policing structures 171 Inefficiencies in the legal and judicial spheres 175 Chapter 6 — Final Conclusions 190 Summary of the findings of the thesis: What has been shown? 190 Strengths, limitations and the implications of this research 192 Future projects 193 - V - Bibliography 195 Appendix A — Interviews and Questionnaires: Further Details 232 Appendix B — Outline Interview Schedule 234 Appendix C — Original Questionnaire Template 235 Appendix D — English Translation of Questionnaire Template 242 - VI - List of Figures Page Figure 1 - Map of Madrid 8 Figure 2 — Map of the Costa del Sol 11 Figure 3 — Map of Galicia 14 Figure 4 — Map o f Spain 84 - vu - Abbreviations AEGD Association d'Etudes Géopolitiques des Drogues (Center for Geopolitical Drug Studies) CGPJ Consejo General del Poder Judicial (General Council of Judicial Power) CICO Centro de Inteligencia contra el Crimen Organizado (Intelligence Centre against Organised Crime) CIG Confederation lntersindical Galega (Galician Intersindical Confederation) CPI Corruption Perceptions Index CSD Center for the Study of Democracy ECO Equipo Contra el Crimen Organizado (Team Against Organised Crime) EFE a Spanish national news agency EIU Economist Intelligence Unit EMCDDA European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction ETA Euzkadi taAskatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom) EU European Union EURES the European Job Mobility Portal FATF Financial Action Task Force GDP gross domestic product GIL Grupo Independiente Liberal (Independent Liberal Party) GRECO Grupos de Respuesta Especialpara el Crimen Organizado) (Special Response Groups for Organised Crime) IMF International Monetary Fund INE Instituto National de Estadística (National Institute of Statistics) IU Izquierda Unida (United Left) IU-LV-CA Izquierda Unida-Eos Verdes-Convocatoria por Andalucía (United Left-Green Party-Call for Andalusia) MDMA methylenedioxymethamphetamine (or ‘ecstasy1) MEP Member of European Parliament MIR Ministerio del Interior (Spain’s Ministry of the Interior) OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OGD Observatoire Géopolitique des Drogues (Geopolitical Drugs Watch) PP Partido Popular (People’s Party) PRI Partido Revolucionario Institutional (Institutional Revolutionary Party) (Mexico) PSOE Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist